Be Brave
by UnintendedPaperCut
Summary: "Is it bad to be Divergent? Why did my tester look so worried?" I ask hesitantly, for I'm afraid of what Mom's answer might be. "No Naddy, it means that you're special." Her grip on my arms tightens. "But you will transfer to Abnegation tomorrow. It will keep you safe. I can no longer protect you. Promise me that you'll be brave." I stare into her eyes and nod. "I will be brave."
1. The Beginning

**Chapter One**

_**The Beginning**_

A strained hiss whistles through the gap in between my two front teeth when Shane Cardew stabs my belly button with his smuggled piercing gun. Santana Cefalo snickers from the corner of Shane's apartment room the minute she sees the terrified expression on my face.

"That really hurt." I say as Shane puts down the gun and secures the red piercing on my stomach. When he doesn't say anything, I swat his hands still probing at my tensed middle and repeat myself. "That _really_ hurt."

The corners of his lips twitch for the briefest of moments and he straightens into his slouched stance from his crouching position. He ignores me again. "Damn Natalie, you have the flattest tummy I've ever pierced. And your abs are those cute girl abs I've been searching for in a future girlfriend forever!"

I scoff disinterestedly, rolling my eyes. Shane has always been so annoying.

"Quit hitting on her Shane, you already know that she and Dante are gonna hook up once the Choosing Ceremony is over." Santana joins me on the springy bed, and I knock my knees against hers in a sort of "shut up, don't tell everyone" way.

"Well then I guess—" Shane bends over and brushes his knuckles across my jawline. They're rough and chapped. A shiver shimmies up my spine, and I self-consciously pull down my rolled down V-neck. The piercing sort of pokes out through the skintight black cotton. Two little round knobs. "—we have a week to get to know each other better."

"Shut up." My voice is demanding, like my dad's, but I let out a giggle anyway.

Shane leans back and folds his arms across his chest, staring down at both Santana and me. A bluish green vine tattoo laces his right arm, winding all the way up to his head and ending in a curl around his ear. I suddenly notice that he is totally and intentionally flexing while he does this, and the sleeves of his shirt are gathered in wrinkles so that Santana and I also have a view of his shoulders.

"Just make up your mind quick, 'cause time's running out." His smile is crooked. The silver teeth bands he models catch a glare from the dim florescent light above us. They look like the train tracks we all hop onto every day, except that his bands are cleans and silver, not old and gritty and tarnished with rust. "Alright Natalie?" He slurs my name and quirks a dark brown eyebrow.

"No thanks." I smirk and take Santana's hand. "Besides, Tana and I are gonna go meet Dante and everyone else down at the Pit." It takes quite an effort to pull my best friend up and off of Shane's cot, considering the fact that eighty percent of her weight is lean muscle and the other twenty percent is her long and thick hair. She dyed it dark red the other day.

Shane playfully scowls, then opens his door for us. "Natalie, feel free to come back whenever." Santana shoots him a look and he doubtfully adds, "You too Satan." Tana makes a loud grumbling noise and she smacks him in the head, hard. "Leave us alone. We only come to you for piercings."

As Shane's closing his apartment door behind us, Tana says, "And don't you worry about me visiting you, 'cause I'm pretty damn sure that I won't." She grabs the doorknob from the other side and slams the door shut for him.

As we walk toward the Pit, stepping through the cool and dark hallways, I elbow Santana in her rib.

"What was that for?" She snaps, glancing at me through her peripheral.

I give her my signature "duh" look, but then I open my mouth to speak anyway. "Treating him like that isn't gonna help you win him over."

Her grimacing lips pucker and her hazel eyes flash. "It's not like he knows that I'm interested." She pauses, her jaw slacking and lips spiraling back into a frown. "And how he keeps flirting with you ticks me off."

"Tana," I start, tiredly and exasperated. "He's teasing you. And don't you remember that Shane tends to be shy sometimes?" I take a glimpse of her as we continue down the halls. "Maybe _you_ should change the mood in between you guys. Make the first move… What do you call it again?—sexy time?" The humor in my voice creates a small smile to take over both of our faces.

I don't think Santana would tackle me if I said this in my normal way, but my sarcastic tone does. Anyway, she decides to nail me to the ground right when we reach the cool and hard floor of the Pit.

"Natalie!" Her face is flushed red, and she manages to slap me flippantly before a pair of scuffed black sneakers approaches us. Santana clambers off of me and fixes her burgundy hair do. After glancing in between me and Dante with a smug expression, she says, "I'm gonna go meet everyone else…" She trails off, and her eyebrows scrunch so much that they meet in the middle. "I'll just leave you two alone." As her feet speedily shuffle over to our group of friends, she sneaks peeks of us.

Dante Evans extends a hand toward me and I grasp it gratefully. I despise myself for the unattractive grunt I make when I stand up. "Ugh—thanks."

He smiles, in an intrepid sort of way, and I feel myself swallow by how he stares at me so fixedly. I begin to twist at my mussed hair when he says, "Hey."

I slightly bob my head a little. "Hey."

We stand there for a while, an awkward silence washing over us. A small gasp escapes my mouth when Dante leans into my shoulder, his husky whisper warm and tickling my ear. "Why don't you meet me at the Skipped after dinner?"

"Sure." I smile at him after he leans back. What was all that awkwardness for? We're both practically dating, just not officially. Not yet, anyway.

We head toward the clump of people looking down at the chasm. The extremely loud ones daring each other to jump in. Our pals.

Dana Reynolds' cocoa bean brown hands are still clutching at the railing when she looks over at me. She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively once she sees Dante beside me before facing the chasm again, a spray of foamy blue water sprinkling all over her. It dampens her dark and curly ponytail.

Blake and Ryan Chen, the two twin brothers of our group, saunter over to us and whisk Dante away, talking about the new and good lucking initiate counselor and how they can't wait for next week to meet her after the Choosing Ceremony.

I go and join Santana, Dana and a few of my other girlfriends at the railing. A swift shower of chilly water spits into my face. "I'm going home." I say. They all look at me with scrunched noses.

"_Already_?" Dana presses, almost accusingly.

I shrug my shoulders. "Yeah, I'm real tired." I'm also happy that they usually believe my fibbing, because I'm actually not tired. I am actually buzzing with excited anticipation; I wonder why Dante wants me to meet him at Skipped.

"Alright then." Santana eyes me oddly, and then they all turn back to the chasm, shoving each other nearly over the rail.

The trek to my family's house from the compound is seven minutes long, and that is only if you're walking real slowly. I power walk and end up stepping though the front door of my house in just four minutes.

Mom is singing in her broad and loud voice when I meet her in the kitchen. She is pulling out a pan of pizza from the oven with her bare hands. I'm not able to do that yet, I'm still trying though. She smiles at me but doesn't quit her singing when she sees that I'm home.

"You're here early." She finally says, setting the pizza on top of the counter to cool off. The kitchen is toasty from it, and the small sausages peppered on to the cheese fills the air with a hearty but greasy aroma. I love it and my tongue flicks out to lick my lips when I nod.

"Yup." I bounce on the soles of my shoes. "Just thought that I'd… help you with cooking."

Mom laughs—and it's one of those laughs that sound like a booming of a firecracker, the type that scares you and causes the hair on the back of your neck to stick out—because she knows that I'm joking. I am. Dad and I barely help around the house. Dad never really has time because he is one of the volunteers who guard the fences and I, well, I like to focus on dance class and work out and school. My room is also a mess. And Mom does have the time to do house chores during the day; she only needs to go to her Dauntless leader office in the compound a few times a week.

"The world would be seriously coming to an end if you decided to prepare dinner." Her laughter dies down and she leans over to pinch me on the cheek. Mom is a transfer from Amity, so sometimes she has the habit of acting like her born faction every now and then. "Now you go and wash up."

"Mkay." While I'm in the middle of turning to go to the bathroom, Mom grips at my shoulder, and her Dauntlessness sinks back in. Her fingers curl. She is in need of trimming her nails.

"Natalie." Her voice is stern and slow.

I suddenly remember my belly button piercing and my face falls, so do my shoulders, especially the one she still has her hand on. "Yes?" I chew on my bottom lip and attempt to cover where my belly button is with my hand.

Mom pushes my arm away from my front with her free hand, and with the opposite one still planted on my forearm, she turns me toward her. "Natalie." She says my name again, but now in a whiny "why?" voice. "I trusted you! Your father and I agreed that you would get your belly button pierced _after_ your Choosing Ceremony!" She squints at me angrily. After a while, she finally removes her hand from me and asks, "Who did it and where did you get the money."

My teeth finally unbury themselves from my lips and form into a pursed line.

Mom exhales when she sees my expression. "Oh Naddy, you're so much better than that, you might get an infection." Then she shakes her head to herself, probably trying to shoo away her Amity response. "No, just get washed up. I would normally make you take it out, but you were going to get it done anyway."

I nod, peeping out a small, "Thanks!" and hurry to the bathroom, tightly shutting the door behind me. Immediately, I roll my shirt up and stare at my reflection, right at the piercing. It's hot, and I like it. Then my eyes trail over to the small and black figure eight tattoo just above my left hip bone. It is almost as hot as my new piercing, but not as quite; Santana has the same exact tat in the same exact place because we swore to remain best friends for life.

I quickly pull my shirt back down when I hear the front door swing open and Dad's profound voice roar abrasively, but in a relieved expression, "I'm home!"

My hands find the sink's faucet and I wrench it, cup my hands beneath the cool stream and splash at my face. It sprays everywhere, just like the chasm.

I cross my arms over my stomach, making it a point to conceal the thing Mom is slightly scowling about when I go into the dining room. Dad and she are already eating and I hurriedly slide onto my seat across from them. I'm thankful that the table top is tall enough to take over my arms' duty. I reach over and grab two wide slices of pizza, slapping them onto my plate.

Dad's green eyes, the same dark green that my own eyes have inherited from him, watch me sluggishly as he chugs down his glass filled with wine. Mom and he always have at least one cup of it every day during supper; it's their ritual, to release their stress. Almost every adult who is Dauntless has an alcoholic drink once a week. Today it's the same color as Santana's hair, rich and dusky and red. Mom lifts her glass of wine and gently knocks it against Dad's.

"Would you like some more?" She asks him, picking up the liquor bottle she set down on the table earlier after she poured their glasses. When the lip of the bottle meets the rim of Dad's empty cup, he stops her with his hand and says, "Wait a minute. I think Natalie is mature enough to have some too. Besides, the ceremony is only just a couple of days away."

I raise my eyebrows in shock at this. So does Mom. She scrutinizes her husband for a moment, as if he has gone crazy, and then she flattens her forehead. "Are you sure about that?" She sounds cautious. Mom is never cautious.

Dad sighs and snatches the bottle from her. "Give me your cup, Natalie." He orders, sticking his opposite hand out. I obey, but flinch when Mom looks at me strangely. He hands me back the glass after he has poured some of the wine in there, empties some more into his own and Mom's, then lifts his glass into the air. "This is to Natalie."

"To Natalie." Mom says, her voice instantly changing into a cheer.

"To me."

After we bump our glasses against each other's, I knock back the drink, and I wince when it drizzles down my throat. As it fills my mouth, I so badly want to spit it out. It's bitter and too strong. Dad chuckles when I set my glass back down with a wheeze.

"Adda girl." He stands up and crosses the room to pat me on the back. I cover my abdomen just in time.

Once Dad leaves for his room, Mom clears the dishes for the Abnegation volunteers to collect. She firmly smiles at me before joining Dad in their room.

Honestly, I don't care if she is angry at me at the moment. I suddenly remember that I have a date with Dante and I sprint into my bedroom. These are the times when I wish I had an older sister like how Santana does. I wish I had one to tell all my boy problems to, and to help me dress up. But even if I did, she'd probably already be an initiate graduate and live in the compound until she got married.

My feet are already buried in the pile of clothes on my floor when I reach my dresser. I pull open all of its drawers, searching for my ruffled dress shirt. I can't find it. After sifting through my room's sea of clothes, I finally settle on a low scoop neck long sleeve that shows my midriff, my belly button piercing and my cleavage. It's really tight. Then I jump into my skirt that hugs my waist and ends right below my butt. That's also tight too.

When I get to my hair, I stare into the bathroom mirror, frustrated. My hair is blonde and shiny, but it's so flat that I can never do anything with it. I finally decide to leave it alone.

It only takes a few minutes to outline my eyes in black, coat my eyelashes with mascara and smear red lip stain onto my mouth.

I slip on my sneakers, the ones that have Amity yellow laces, since it's a little bit of a long walk to Skipped. "I'll be back soon!" I call out before closing the front door behind me.

Skipped is this little abandoned warehouse beneath the train tracks beside the compound. It serves as the teenage Dauntless hangout. There's dancing, fighting competitions, homemade drinks… some other things I shouldn't know about at my age, sixteen.

My legs, arms and belly's skin have all been replaced by gooseflesh by the time my feet hit the soil and mossy ground beneath the train tracks. A small gust of wind soars by, and my hair flies along with it. I impatiently try to smooth it down.

The thumping of the music in Skipped drums against my eardrums and I can feel the vibration busying across my chilled skin. It rhythmically rattles inside of me, and my goose bumps stick out even more. They have never been so prominent. But I love Skipped and the sound and everything else that comes with it.

Right when I reach for the slightly open door, Dante comes out with two beverages in his hands. The liquid of both of the drinks are a light and soft yellow. Huge chunks of ice bob around in them.

"Oh—hey!" Dante knocks me in the side with his elbow and hands me a cup. It's frosty and cold and feels refreshing against my palm. The glass begins to turn foggy. I don't know if it's because of the coldness of the drink it holds, my heavy breathing from my walk, or the sudden change in meeting the breezy evening air instead of the sweaty atmosphere of Skipped.

"It's lemonade." He says.

I glance down at the cup he passed me. "Where did they get lemons?"

Dante's shoulders shrug, and then he sips at his share. "Dunno. Some guys said that the Amity delivered an extra carton of lemons, so they were able to steal a few." He points at my cup with his pinky finger. "Go ahead and try it, I think it tastes good."

"Alright." After I taste my first sip, it's really easy to empty my glass. The drink sort of makes me woozy though, probably because of all of the sugar the Skipped workers added into it, and I stumble when Dante brings me inside.

The music has just been turned off; it looks as though somebody has just challenged a guy from the crowd to a fight. A bunch of girls, including me, whistle when we see that the challenger is Lyndon Soto. He is one of the cute and graduated initiates. Oh I can't wait for the Choosing Ceremony and to finally live in the compound with my friends and call myself an initiate. And—gah—no school! Too bad I have it tomorrow.

I find a frown has already settled onto my face because of the thought once the fight starts. But as soon as Dante wraps one of his arms around my bare waist, and leaves a blazing trail in his wake, his fingertips tickling me softly, I forget about school. I smile when he pulls me closer to him.

"You look great Natalie." He quietly declares into my ear. I still shiver from how hot and close his breath is.

"Thanks." I place my hand over his, the one that is starting to go lower than where it should be heading. I gently pull it back around the curve of my hip. "Now you wouldn't want to do that here, would you?" I ask, almost purr like.

Dante looks startled for a moment, but then he grins slyly. "Yeah, I can wait for a week."

I laugh, tossing my hair back and behind my shoulders and we both switch our attention back to the fight. Lyndon got a few good punch marks on his face, but the guy he is now mauling, he isn't doing so well.

It feels like it has only been half an hour when Dante walks me home. His arms is still wrapped around my waist, and he is still lightly tickling me, but there is a different emotion then before. I guess it is because we finally have realized that after next Tuesday, we aren't going to be little kids anymore, we are going to be older, and soon we'll be starting families. Hopefully, together.

Then it seems as if everything is slowing down and my mind is spinning when Dante stops walking right in front of my house and takes my chin in his hand, his other arm still slung around my hip. And then he bites his lip. And then he looks at my _mouth_. And then his eyes flicker back to mine, and he blinks. And then he kisses me, long and slow and deeply. I don't know how to explain this. All I do know that it is amazing, and I'm sure that this is our first kiss of many.

I'm reluctant to say bye and go into my house. But when I get into bed, I remember—again—that I have school tomorrow, and I will see him there.

* * *

**A/N**

Hi guys(: I really hoped you enjoyed this. Just to clarify, this will be a story about Natalie Prior, Tris' mom. Next chapter will be about school and her aptitude test!  
Until Next time  
-UnintendedPaperCut xox


	2. Divergent

_Ohmigoodness! I forgot to put a disclaimer on this_  
_I don't own the Divergent Trilogy, or any of the characters it contains. I only own OC. && to everyone that has subscribed, Favorited and reviewed: Thank you so much! It means a whole bunch to me. It'll also grant you sneak peeks every now and then c;_

**Chapter Two**  
_**Divergent**_

Mom bakes banana pecan muffins for breakfast the next morning. They're fluffy and warm inside, but the outside and edges are sort of crispy. I don't mind though, I guzzle it like it's the last thing I'll be able to eat before it can turn cold. Mom never really cooks breakfast; she usually picks something up from the convenient store down the street, so it must be a special occasion.

"Why'd you cook this morning?" I ask in the most polite tone I could produce.

She only smiles, bitter sweetly. "Hurry Natalie or you'll miss your train."

I nod dismissively, tearing my last chunk out of my muffin. "Okay." I rise from my chair, and brush my hands over the table, crumbs tumbling everywhere. Mom catches my eye, and I quickly turn away from her, pretending that I didn't notice her.

I stoop down to pick up my backpack from the floor, Mom's eyes still remaining on me, like a hawk I encountered when I was younger.

"You know," She says, "your dad is still oblivious of the fact that you're umbilical cord has a ring in it." We both look down at my piercing thrusting through my top and then I understand.

After I've grabbed a jacket from my room, to conceal my forbidden piercing, Mom gets up from the table to walk me to the front door. "Have a great day." She pats at my loose braid and closes the door once I've reached the sidewalk.

My insides are still warm from the muffin, but the late night air still lingers outside. The coldness dances on the exposed skin of my collar and face, turning my cheeks a flustered pink. I listen to the few birds here in my part of the Dauntless neighborhood chirping and I squint up at the sun, which has just begun to rise from behind the Hub in the distance.

I'm the last one at the train stop. A massive grin is on Santana's face when I approach her and Dana. Her beam is so large that I feel like her face will crack if she continues it any longer.

"Why the happy face?" I ask, not really looking at her, but the big round circle of light coming closer and closer over her shoulder, our train.

"Today is our last day of schoolwork!" She enthuses. "Then we have the weekend, our aptitude testing on Monday and the ceremony the day after that!"

The three of us and our other classmates clumped near us begin to sprint in the direction of where the train is coming from. Two long whistles, then a short toot as it catches up to all of us. I glance at the train, its dim lights flickering and blurred as we all try to catch up with it, run alongside with it then jump in.

"How… can I… forget?" I say sarcastically in between pants. My feet stomp against the cement of the platform, and then I jump and then we're all on the train.

"Oh!" Dana sighs and slouches against the wall beside the open train door we jumped in through. Her fingers brush against her nose. "That never gets old."

We both exchange a tired grin, trying to catch our breath. "Yep," I say.

Santana rummages in her backpack and pulls out a white napkin folded triangularly. The napkin has a few grease splotches o them. She unwraps it, revealing a piece of toast that's slathered in butter. "What?" She asks cluelessly in mid bite when she catches both Dana and me squinting at her. "I didn't have enough time to eat before I got here!" She explains hastily.

Dana and I shrug our shoulders.

Soon, we are all hopping off of the train and onto the school grounds. Most of the Dauntless are laughing when the head instructor, Miss Darnell, accidently purrs over the intercom, "No, not like that." I even stifle a giggle.

A swarm of black pushes into the crowd of the kids from the other factions who are already milling around in the hallways, balancing books in the hands, chattering with friends. Ugh, school. Now the throng of students is a rainbow of blue, yellow and red, black and gray and white.

I speedily join Dana who has already run off with Santana. Dana and I have arithmetic together first thing in the morning, so we trudge over to our classroom after saying bye to Tana.

Dana is already struck with boredom, and her face is proving it, when our teacher Mr. Daniels begins talking once our class has all sat down. I'm also uninterested too; Mr. Daniels is one of those teachers that drone on and on about their weekend break or about a segment of a lesson we're going over. He gets so into what he is speaking about that he tends to have spittle flying from his mouth whenever he talks. The only way that I'm able to get through his class is the silent conversations Dana and I always share.

Today he's talking about how he's bummed to be departing with this class in particular, but that he has a very special treat to give us. A girl who is from Candor calls out, "Quit lying."

Mr. Daniels frowns at her, then lifts the stack of paper he has sitting on his desk he is standing behind. "Well, most of you might not enjoy it, but the surprise is a quiz!" He smiles goofily.

I groan, and so does everyone else, except for all the Erudite kids who adjust their glasses and jitter in their wobbly seats excitedly. I roll my eyes, irritated; how exactly is math entertaining to them?

I'm extremely happy and relieved when the bell rings. Dana even sticks her tongue out at the teacher when she hands him her test sheet. It appears to be empty of answers.

School whizzes by pretty quickly. Boring as always. The only memorable part of the day was lunch; Dante shared half of his hamburger with me.

When I get home, I immediately collapse onto the sofa in the living room. As the smooth and leathery cushions swallow up my legs, my head sinks down, and I suddenly realize that I'm tired.

I'm still on the couch when I wake up Saturday morning. But a fuzzy blanket has been thrown over me, expertisely and cozily tucked into the dip of my neck and feet.

**xXx**

All of my classmates from Dauntless are seated at one table in the cafeteria, laughing and shouting and playing War, this game that consists of a deck of cards. Santana hmphs when I win the next round.

It's Monday, the day we all take our aptitude tests. I still can't believe that the weekend has run off so abruptly. And I still can't believe that I won't be living with my parents anymore, but with all of my friends in the compound.

A lady covered in gray from neck to shoes, an Abnegation volunteer, emerges from the hall and reads out the next ten names of testers from a sheet of paper in her hands. When Santana's name is called, I shout, "Go kick some butt!"

She smirks at me and follows the lady into the hall of testing rooms.

Dana exhales coolly, and then snatches the cards Santana left at her seat. "Here, I wanna shuffle the next set."

I hand her my share of the cards. While she shuffles, I look around the room. Some Candor kids are talking to each other casually, frowning towards one another every now and then. The Amity girls are being almost as loud as us Dauntless, but the only difference is that they're being annoying with their nasally giggles and hand clapping. A couple of guys from Erudite are writing on the tops of their tables with their fingers, glancing at their neighbor's things from time to time. I still can't understand how entertaining education is to them. Then lastly, my eyes land on a blob of stiff backed, perfectly postured people in gray. They aren't even talking. They only twiddle their thumbs or stare at the other factions with a strange look in their eyes. I can't help but crinkle my nose in uninterest, they're so boring looking.

In due time, Santana comes back to our section of the table and sits down with a triumphant grin. Both Dana and I can already tell what she got. She sloppily runs her hands through her maroon hair as she snatches the shuffled deck of cars from Dana. "Play me a set?"

Dana simply nods, taking the cards back from Tana and counting them.

My name is called a few minutes later. I don't like how "Natalie Hill" rolls off of the Abnegation volunteer's tongue. She sounds too quiet and monotone, like a robot.

Fingers flexed, I follow her into testing room number three. A young woman in blue waits for me in there. Her hair is twirled up into a voluminous chignon and she has a round and dark mole below her left eye.

A reclining chair sits right beneath a hanging light bulb in the middle of the room. It's the sort of chair you sit in to get your tattoos done, except that this one has a small machine with a touchscreen attached to it. There are also wires with black suction things on them.

It's not until I sit on the hard cushion after the lady tells me to, that I notice that the walls are, in fact, not walls. They're mirrors, tall and reflecting the light above me.

"Why isn't there a desk? Or a test sheet?" I ask as the Erudite lady is about to open her mouth.

She closes it for a second, but then she says, "The aptitude tests are—" For a second, her light brown eyes glaze me over, as if she is checking the color of my clothes so she won't speak too elaborately for me. "—very _special_ tests. So we have a different procedure for it." Her thin lips curve firmly. It isn't a friendly smile, just one you give to someone when they catch you eye.

"Oh." Is all I say. I drum my fingers against the armrest, wearily watching as she picks up the wires.

"This," She starts. "Is an electrode. I'm going to attach it to your forehead and the end of it to mine. It will transmit what you see to me after you drink—" She picks up a tiny flask of a see-through liquid. It looks like water, but it has small bubbles slowly floating around in it, like thick syrup. "—this."

I blink when she presses the electrode above my eyelids. And my hands unexpectedly begin to shake when she hands me the vial. I slowly sip at it. It doesn't taste good.

Then I go under.

_I am back in the cafeteria, but all the tables are empty of people. It is so quiet, and the silence hurts my ears. I sniff and almost jump when I hear a male's voice order, "Choose." _

_Suddenly, a small weaved basket appears on the lunch table in front of me. A soft looking white blanket lines it and a chunk of holey cheese and a long knife rests on it._

_Of course, I reach for the knife. It has a curved blade and a smooth brown handle. Fits my hand perfectly._

_I almost scream when a shaggy black dog runs in from the cafeteria door. His mouth is open, tongue sticking out and covering a section of his yellowed teeth. His ears are triangular and pointy, like a wolf's, and his eyes are wide and alert. He quickly bounds toward me, his rough paws knocking me over and pinning me to the cold and hard ground._

"_Agh!" Even though my head has been knocked against the tile floor, I'm still able to sink my knife into the dog's furry chest. He has a chance to bite me for the first time before I stab him a second time. His bite hurts, but what he's feeling must be agonizing, because he has now slumped onto me, whimpering and the heel of the knife pressing against my chest. _

_This is just a dream. I think. This isn't real, it's only a dream._

_I slowly push him off of me. My clothes are black, but where the dog's blood has seeped into my shirt leaves patches that are darker than night. The air is pungent, from the newly fresh beads of sweat brimming my nose and cheeks and canine blood. Red begins to pool onto the white floor. It makes me dizzy, and I think about the wine I had the other day, and the color of Santana's hair, and the shade of my belly piercing. I drag the back of my hand under my nose as I stand up, wiping the perspiration away. _

_A small girl in a frilly white dress hurries in from the same door the dog came in through earlier. Her pigtails bob up and down and the poofy layers of her dress bounce as she scurries over to me. She gasps when she sees the dead dog at my feet, a knife lodged into his heart and his bitter smelling blood filling the cracks of tile, making the floor look like a pale and veiny arm._

"_Oh no!" Her sob is loud and whiny and transforms into an ear splitting cry when she kneels down next to him. The girl's hands shake as she pets over the dog's unruly coat. When her head lifts up and her eyes lock with mine, I stiffen. She scrambles to her feet, her blood stained hands fisting up so tightly that her knuckles turn white. _

"_You did this." Her sniveling voice is now concealed by a growl and she stalks toward me, her face twisting into a glower. "You did this, didn't you?" She yells._

"_I—I—" I don't know what to say. My lids flutter and I gulp, my eyes darting from the girl to the dog, the girl, the dog, the girl, the dog. "No, I—"_

"_Don't lie to me!" She pleads, tears streaking her face. "You killed him! You killed my dog!"_

"_No, no, no I didn't kill your dog… I only, I only—"_

"_You what! You did what?" She crumples to the ground and presses her bloody palms to her eyes. "You killed my dog. You killed my dog, that's what you did!" She moans. _

_I bite my lip, and I feel sick in the stomach. I reach down to smooth back her hair, because I feel bad, guilty. But before my hands are able to stroke her pigtails, I'm somewhere else._

_I look around, frantically._

_I'm outside, in a meadow, I think. I'm barefoot and a morning breeze slices in the air._

_I glance down at my hands. No blood. A relieved exhale escapes my mouth._

_Then I hear a voice._

"_Natalie, Natalie? Are you there?"_

_Squinting, I take a glimpse of where I am. The weak branches of sleepy willows brush against my cheeks when I begin to walk toward the voice calling me, and my toes sink into the soft grass beneath me. The grass is light green and pink and has small patches of yellow. The air smells of apples. I wonder why._

_Out of nowhere, the owner of the voice materializes from behind a cherry blossom tree, and smiles._

"_Natalie! There you are!"_

_She is tall, with silky chestnut hair that skirts around her waist. Her skin is a rich and coppery tone and her long scarlet frock compliments her complexion nicely. The afternoon sun is right behind her, and it makes her glow._

_I swallow, out of jealousy._

"_Who are you?" I ask, being frank and straight to the point._

_Her laugh reveals perfect white teeth. "Natalie, don't you remember? Stop playing games—we're best friends!"_

"_How can we be best friends?" I must sound so confused and retarded. _

_When she takes my hand in hers, I discover the yellow sleeve covering my arm. Yellow sleeve?_

_I have to be dreaming._

"_Oh come on." She says, tugging my hand. "We're late for peach picking."_

"_Peach picking?" I echo uncertainly._

_Her eyes flash when she looks over at me. "Yes, peach picking." _

_She drags me over to another meadow, but this one has a white painted fence that have pointed tops around it and green leafy tress with orange fruits blushed with pink. Both boys and girls are plucking the fruits—peaches, I'm guessing—from the trees and are putting them into the baskets that are tucked into the crook of their arms. They are all singing. _

_This scene should make me sick, but for some reason, I like it. The tart fragrance of apples still lingers in the air, but a new scent mixes with it, sweet and luscious and fresh._

_I don't need the girl's instruction to start picking the peaches. I grab a lone basket by myself and instantly begin to drop my picked peaches into there. I also begin to eat one. It is so delicious, with its juicy meat and sugariness filling my mouth. I don't know how, but I start to sing along with everyone._

_Flower lilies grow Grow among the grass  
Let the showers flow And the flowers bloom at last  
Birdy flies and soars Chirps his song of joy  
A cricket sings along And so does Mama's boy  
Can you listen children?  
The growing everywhere?  
Nature is among us  
Sweetening the air  
Can you hear it children?  
Pay attention not here, but there  
Our great mother nature  
Blesses us with cheerfulness_

_The peach starts to make me feel sleepy. It is as if the Amity farmers planted the peaches with a potion to make me tired. The syrupy taste makes me smile though, and so does the positive song, the melodic voices singing in flawless harmony. I close my eyes._

My sleep crusted eyes are greeted to the Erudite lady's face. She furrows her eyebrows when she pulls the electrodes from both of our foreheads.

What was that? Did I just fall asleep during my test? "Was that the test?" I ask, alarmed.

"Yes," She nods, but her voice is distracted, like she is thinking of something else. "Let me just—I need to go input the results. You stay right here." Her hand is smooth when she places it onto my arm.

"Okay."

She smiles warmly this time, then leaves the room with a very worried expression.

I gaze around the room, watching my reflection in the mirror walls. How long was I asleep? And did I do well? Oh God, I hope I did.

A few minutes pass when she comes back in. She hands me a tiny wax paper cup full of water. She begins to talk while I sip at the water. "Natalie…" She is speaking really slowly. "I have good news… and then I have bad news."

I frown at her when she says the last part.

"Which one do you want to hear first?"

"Just tell me." I demand snappily, straightening my back. I crush my finished cup of water and squeeze it even more with my fingers. Bad news?

"Well, you got Dauntless." She sounds hesitant.

I nod at this, like that is a fact a no brainer. What is so bad about that?

"But,"

This stops me short.

"Your results also showed that you would also make a nice addition to Amity." Her nose wrinkles and the folds around her eyes crease too, hiding her distracting mole.

I tense. My stomach churns. "Is that bad? I mean, my mom is from Amity, so I should get that anyway—right? _Is that bad?_ Why are you looking at me like that!"

She bends over and clutches my arm, stares me straight in the eye. "You must never speak of your test results to anyone, ever. Natalie Hill, do you understand me? You will regret it if you do."

My breathing has become erratic, and it doesn't help that my tester's nose is so close that we inhale the same air. Her minty breath mingles with mine. Sweat collects at the back of my neck.

She is quiet when her lips move to my ear, to whisper what she needs to say next. It must be important. Her voice lowers an octave, so that her tone is icy, daunting. "You are what they call Divergent."

My crinkled wax cup falls to the floor.

* * *

**A/N  
**There's more to come. I hope you all enjoyed. And yes, it wasn't the bestest of writing, but you know, it's a hobby of mine. DEAL WIF IT. (jusskiddingg)

Until next time!  
-UnintendedPaperCut xoxox


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